Its presence could help transform downtown to a biosciences hub. University of the Incarnate Word's President Lou Agnese Jr. has made allusions to synergy between the medical school and Fox Tech High School, the possible location.

“From a public education standpoint, it kind of speaks for itself,” he recently told us. “It doesn't take rocket science to see what good a medical school brings to a school district.”

But Agnese hasn't detailed how a deal would benefit the beleaguered San Antonio Independent School District, which owns Fox Tech High School. That's reason enough for caution. The school district comes first.

Agnese has repeatedly said he is not interested in paying for the land. He has other options, including space in UIW's optometry school building.

He downplayed the value of the eight acres, fallow athletic fields on the northwest side of downtown. It is “an area that is underdeveloped and has been over the last 100 years,” he said.

The site is clearly worth millions, and will be worth more with Bexar County commissioners recently approving $175 million to morph nearby San Pedro Creek into a linear park.

“We know that there is a value based on its current use, and a value based on all of the activity being proposed around the Fox Campus,” SAISD Board President Ed Garza told us.

Enter Pat DiGiovanni, CEO of Centro Partnership, the nonprofit tasked with reviving downtown. Centro has volunteered to broker an agreement, if possible. The district and UIW are in the midst of exclusive 45-day negotiations.

This isn't the only possible location for UIW's medical school. Besides the university-owned site near the South Texas Medical Center, other possibilities include Brooks City-Base and 12 acres of private land on the East Side.

“The university is going to establish the medical school by 2016,” Agnese said. “Period.”

This deal has potential good for downtown written all over it — which is why we would not object if some angel swooped in to make the district whole. Wherever the location, San Antonio wins. But if it goes next to Fox Tech, SAISD and its students must win, too.